Club Sports News

Liberty riders showcase CFA supremacy in finals at Snowflex

April 20, 2013 | Lynchburg, Va.

Tim Steltzer follows through on a flip with the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre lodge in the background at a recent CFA event.

Liberty University's ski and snowboard team clinched all three of the individual points championships for the Collegiate Freestyle Association Series on Saturday afternoon, under spectacular conditions at the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre.

Tim Steltzer won the men's skiing division for the Flames, holding off Virginia Tech's Dominik Schwarz for the third consecutive week in the final Big Air competition.

Meanwhile, Kevin Hoff sealed first place in the men's snowboarding series and Brandy Fronte barely finished atop the women's snowboarding standings despite being edged out in Saturday's final.

Liberty teammate Brendan Sullivan defeated Hoff in the men's snowboarding finals while Virginia Tech's Kaitlyn Falk beat Fronte in the women's competition, but Hoff and Fronte had enough of a lead to hold on for the series crown, Fronte by a mere eight points.

"Kevin didn't get a landed run in the final," Flames head coach Will Scheren said, noting Hoff fell trying to land 720- and 900-degree spins off the 60-foot jump after Sullivan executed a clean 540. "It would have been close and come down to some judges' discretion, but Brendan had a great day, so you can't take anything away from him. His 540 was perfect."

Hoff won the first two rounds of the eight-man snowboarding bracket, but both riders had a clean slate for the final.

"Every time you get to a new bracket round, it's a new game, it starts over," Scheren said. "After Brendan's first run, it was apparent to Kevin that he needed to go bigger than a 720, just with how perfect the 540 was from Brendan, so Kevin went for a 900 and didn't get it stuck."

Check out complete results from the final Big Air event and final series standings on the CFA website.

The close of the CFA series sets the stage for next Saturday night's Dew Games at Snowflex, when a few of the nation's top snowboarders will visit Liberty Mountain.

"That's not a club sports event, but a lot of the club sports riders are going to be riding in it," Scheren said. "There will be a lot of money on the line, a lot of pros coming in, and it's going to be big."

He said it will be tough for Liberty's riders to place, but a few have a realistic shot.

"Tim Steltzer is definitely a contender in skiing," Scheren said. "Both of the Steltzer boys (including younger brother Jonathan, a Liberty University Online student) are looking pretty good to be able to pull down some of the podium spots, if not win it all.

"Kevin Hoff might be able to place there if he can get that 900 around again," he added. "But it's going to be a tough contest for any of the men's snowboarders to do well in. The level of riding coming in is going to be so elite."